09-15-2003, 09:58 AM
OK, I'll take a stab at this one.
I'm sitting here in Tbilisi with my bodyguard Levan and we're reading this together. He was in the Soviet Army in the mid-80s, ending up as a high sergeant. He says that these epaulets are all late-Soviet period, generally unchanged from the '70s to the break-up. I trust you know that the second-from-left is a shirt epaulet. The red one is internal troops (not really CA) serving in the regular (i.e., not the gulags) penitentiary system.
As for the metal or plastic letters, as opposed to the embroidered ones? He says they were hand-made by individual soldiers and they were definitely not regulation or officially allowable ON ANY OCCASION. He also says that he made a nice set for himself. He says that if you got caught wearing them you would get non-judicial punishment, 3-4 days in a 1x1 meter cell. However, when they were approaching the end of their hitch in the service, officers would look the other way if soldiers wore them on an everyday uniform.
I'm sitting here in Tbilisi with my bodyguard Levan and we're reading this together. He was in the Soviet Army in the mid-80s, ending up as a high sergeant. He says that these epaulets are all late-Soviet period, generally unchanged from the '70s to the break-up. I trust you know that the second-from-left is a shirt epaulet. The red one is internal troops (not really CA) serving in the regular (i.e., not the gulags) penitentiary system.
As for the metal or plastic letters, as opposed to the embroidered ones? He says they were hand-made by individual soldiers and they were definitely not regulation or officially allowable ON ANY OCCASION. He also says that he made a nice set for himself. He says that if you got caught wearing them you would get non-judicial punishment, 3-4 days in a 1x1 meter cell. However, when they were approaching the end of their hitch in the service, officers would look the other way if soldiers wore them on an everyday uniform.
